Chatham-Kent Health Alliance (CKHA) is pleased to welcome three new Family Medicine Residents. Drs. Elyse Epp, Benjamin Lau and Matthew VanTil, residents from the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, Western University began their post-graduate training at CKHA in early July. These residents will live in Chatham-Kent and gain experience with local physicians who provide support and direction to complete the hands-on portion of their medical training.
“Our medical residency program offers the opportunity to learn and practice medicine in a rural environment with a variety of learning opportunities in both inpatient and outpatient medicine,” said Dr. Pervez Faruqi, Chief of Staff, CKHA. “During their time here many of our residents also discover that Chatham-Kent is a welcoming community and an ideal place to raise a young family.”
Dr. Elyse Epp
Dr. Epp attended the University of Guelph and earned a Bachelor of Science with Distinction and completed her Doctor of Medicine at the University of Toronto. Dr. Epp grew up in Leamington, Ontario and is looking forward to practicing medicine within a community setting.
“Entering into medical school I always had the intention of returning to Southwestern Ontario to practice Family Medicine. Attending medical school in Toronto provided me a great education but I truly missed being part of a small community and am so fortunate to be near my close-knit friends and family again. I chose Chatham-Kent because of how supportive the entire CKHA team is of my learning. It’s incredible to be part of a program where preceptors genuinely care about my goals of becoming a true generalist – enabling me to pursue interests in Emergency and Hospitalist Medicine,” said Dr. Epp.
Dr. Benjamin Lau
Dr. Lau grew up in Toronto, Ontario and completed his Doctor of Medicine from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and earned a graduate diploma from McMaster University in Clinical Epidemiology. Dr. Lau is looking forward to joining CKHA and gaining more experience in rural medicine.
“Having enjoyed several rural experiences in medical school, I am excited to do my residency here in Chatham-Kent and look forward to being a part of the community,” said Dr. Lau.
Dr. Matthew VanTil
Originally from Blenheim, Ontario, Dr. VanTil completed his Doctor of Medicine from Western University. Dr. VanTil is looking forward to the variety of opportunities offered in Chatham-Kent’s residency program and learning from CKHA’s dedicated physician preceptors.
“After training in centres throughout Canada, I found that CKHA had exactly what I was looking for in a residency program. There is not only the breadth of practice that I was looking for but most importantly the physicians here are excellent teachers and ideal role models,” said Dr. VanTil.
Drs. Epp, Lau and VanTil join second-year Family Medicine Residents, Drs. Shannon Milkovic, J. Andrew Lanz-O’Brien, Brent Rowden and Robert Wismer.
For more information on CKHA please visit, www.ckha.on.ca.
